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Southbank Centre

Talking to users in the lab and on the ground about their experiences searching for and booking events on a new prototype

Southbank Centre approached us to test a prototype of their event listings and filtering functionality. The Centre wanted to understand how easily users completed key tasks on both a prototype and on the live website.

The challenge

Southbank Centre hosts a number of different events, some of which are one-offs, some that are established and others that are part of festivals.

The main challenge of the ‘What’s on’ area on the site is to present users with clear descriptions and times for these different event types. The site also aims to inform and encourage users to discover new events.

What we did

We conducted a combination of exploratory lab and field testing to go beyond simple task-based usability research. We visited Southbank Centre to test the website with visitors to measure first impressions and get ‘in situ’ feedback.

We delivered a detailed report, as well as a compelling video highlights reel showing key moments from the research that informed our list of 39 issues and recommendations to improve the website.

The outcome

Our recommendations were detailed, practical and evidence-based. For example, users struggled to find key buttons to expand filters. Additions such as chevrons next to titles have now been successfully incorporated into the final design to improve the overall experience.

We provided Southbank Centre with the confidence to launch its new event listing page. Our insights from users showed the prototype to be a clear improvement on the current version.

Fluent’s researchers were very adept at drawing out and understanding the issues users sometimes struggled to articulate, which proved invaluable in making positive changes to the user experience on our site.